Left to right: Charissa Terranova, Charles Dee Mitchell, Peter Simek, Jerome Weeks, Frances Colpitt

After last week's hastily organized arts discussion with Mayor Mike, there was much to sift through: Do white men have the answers? Are artists, as the Mayor put it, really just "human capital"? How do we get artists to move here and stay here, and which ones do we thrown money at? There were moments of clarity on the panel, but no real radical ideas, and no real focus on the various art communities in Dallas.

See also:
How to Improve the Arts in Dallas: The Best Lessons from Mayor Rawlings' Symposium

One topic that merits revisiting, however, is the need for more criticism. It was tackled last week at CentralTrak, by KERA's Jerome Weeks; former Observer writer Charles Dee Mitchell; D Magazine's Peter Simek; Charissa Terranova, Assistant Professor of Aesthetic Studies at UTD; and Frances Colpitt, the Deedie Potter Rose Chair of Art History at TCU. Together, they attempted to answer a more specific question: What is art criticism in Texas, and do we need it?

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Today marks the arrival of our new and improved Dallas Observer app, your pocket guide to the city and direct line to our always fair-and-balanced take on things. It features:

- Event listings and concert calendars searchable by date, artist, neighborhood, venue or genre
- Restaurant listings searchable by cuisine type and neighborhood
- Access to daily blogs for updates on local news, politics, music, food and arts
- Editors' picks of the best things to do and reviews from our writers
- Slideshows of local nightlife, concerts and events
- Access to Voice Daily Deals spotlighting terrific deals from local events and merchants

I've spent some time with it, and it's a pretty seamless way to access our many, many buckets of diverse content. If you're so inclined, download it from iTunes and Google Play. And if you have any problems with it, email me directly and I'll pass your concerns on to someone smarter than me.

Thanks, as always, for your patronage.

The last guy didn't work out.

The Dallas Observer is looking for a go-to freelancer to contribute stories of all make, model and size across all of our non-news channels: music, nightlife, food, drinks, arts, culture and the like.

The Ideal Candidate ("I.C.") either is a full-time freelancer or has a "day job" that leaves plenty of time for reporting and writing. The I.C. should have some experience writing for an online or print publication, should possess a unique voice and style, and should know and love equally Dallas' various social playgrounds.

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Once featured in a special issue about Dallas' Best Toddler Docs, this baby will team up with Ellen Page in the new sitcom, Baby Steps.

D Magazine announced yesterday that it will team up with the local TV station KTXD and rebrand it D-TV.

The new station will continue to broadcast KTXD's current offerings, including the news show The Texas Daily and the lifestyle show Texas Living, which will be renamed D Living. It will also produce a new morning talk show "in the spirit of The View," with Tim Rogers presumably playing the role of dreadlocked Lesbian comic.

But that will only fill up half the day. Here are some suggestions for how to fill the rest of it.

Most Beautiful Women vs. Best Doctors: A Real World-Road Rules-style competition reality show, shot on location in exotic locales like Garland and that one parking deck on Main Street that's always empty.

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Tweens, shut-ins, cat ladies and frustrated housewives too timid for 50 Shade of Grey entered their final throes of Twilight-related delirium last week. Apparently, not all vampires live forever. As fans search for another fantasy franchise to fill the emotional void, the rest of us see simply the end of a long national nightmare. For that reason, we've decided to celebrate by rummaging through the monster flick/teen lust junk drawer and picking out 10 Things that Are Cooler Than Twilight.

1. An American Werewolf in London - Back when Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattison were merely a twinkle in their parent's genetically perfect eyes, Griffin Dunne ruled the world. Ok, maybe not ruled the world but An American Werewolf in London is the perfect blend of comedy, teen sex romp and full-on horror movie. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

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Mark Cuban has a problem with Facebook. In a recent interview on Read Write, the St. Patrick's-Day-Parade-Saver sticks it to Zuckerberg:

"We are moving far more aggressively into Twitter and reducing any and all emphasis on Facebook," Cuban says, via email. "We won't abandon Facebook, we will still use it, but our priority is to add followers that our brands can reach on non-Facebook platforms first."

See also: Mark Cuban Offers Donald Trump $1 Million To Shave His Head

Set aside for a moment the horror you just got from trying to imagine logging into your Myspace page again. There's a reason Cuban's so pissed. Thanks to a new algorithm from Facebook, the amount of news and information reaching you from the companies you follow has been slashed.

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@joshromney

Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, seem to believe they're the rightful political heirs to the cache of TV's Friday Night Lights because Buzz Bissinger, the author of Friday Night Lights, agreed with his politics and endorsed his campaign in the early '90s.

In fact, during his campaign appearances, Romney has been using a catch phrase that Coach Taylor from the TV series shouts to inspire his team to a victory: "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."

Yet the phrase nor Coach Taylor's character ever appears in the book.

Peter Berg, the writer-director of Friday Night Lights, is pissed and sent a letter saying to Romney. The Hollywood Reporter was able to obtain a copy:

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charlierose.com

The New York Times best-selling author Kurt Eichenwald will speak at SMU as part of the William J. O'Neil Lecture series, discussing his new book, 500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars.

In 500 Days, Eichenwald, a Vanity Fair contributing writer and Dallas resident, focuses on the 18 months after to 9/11, revealing the "decisions, deceptions and delusions" that led the West into two unpopular wars. According to the The New York Times, it portrays a Bush White House that "suffered a protracted nervous breakdown during that time" -- and now Eichenwald comes to speak in Bush's backyard.

Eichenwald's lecture will be held in Room 241 in the Umphrey Lee Center, 3300 Dyer St. on the SMU campus at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1. Admission is free. For further information call 214-768-3695.

Mike Mezeul

It sure was fun the last time Cubes hung out

This Thursday at 2 pm CST, Mark Cuban'll be hanging out on the intertubes. OK, fine, more specifics are needed: Cuban's holding a Google+ Hangout. What does that mean? It's means your computer box will become an interactive TV channel box. There'll be the opportunity to pose questions on Mark's Google+ page, and a lucky few folks are going to be able to jump on the line with Cubes. The topic? Google's PR tells us that Cubes will be focusing on his Landmark Theatre biz, as well as his role in the film industry.

We'll be along with more details, as well as embed of the actual stream (so you can follow along):

What's that? You've got something to say to Mark and wanna participate in the Google+ Hangout? Well then tell us: What would you, dear reader, ask Mark Cuban? We'd like to know because one of our readers may be able to jump on the line with Cuban. Throw your question for Cubes in the comments (make sure you're signed in to Disqus for emailing purposes, we want to be able to reach you), and you may be hearing from us...

Update 3:51 p.m.: You can also add questions to Mark's Google+ page for a chance to interact with Mark via Hangout.

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Juuust kidding. But, since we are all suffering a 24 hour dearth of truthiness -- and in case you would like to know how SOPA/PIPA could affect 31337 blog hounds and conscientious citizens like yourself - find resources you might need during the blackout, after the jump.
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